France is a country with an extraordinary history – a history which has been driven by extraordinary people.

Making up a large part of Western Europe, with the English Channel to the North, Germany to the East, a Border with Spain and the Mediterranean Sea on its South coast, France has had to become a nation of people willing to defend their country as well as establish its power.

Through the defence of the land and the establishment of the empire, France has also become famous for its culture created by its artists, authors and philosophers.

Coming across French names is a common occurrence when studying any aspect of history, but who are these people? And what role did they play in the building of France?

This is Superprof’s top 10 important French figures.

1. Joan of Arc (1412-1431)

Joan of Arc is most famous for her contribution to the end of the Hundred Years War when she secured a French victory over the English by reclaiming original French land.

Joan of Arc’s actions in the run-up to this triumph was down to her religious devotion which led her to have holy visions in which she was encouraged to take action by St Michael and St Catherine as she was to be, they said, her country’s saviour.

After she had sought an audience with the French heir, Charles, upon the instruction of the saints, Joan led several battles alongside the Dauphin which resulted in France regaining control of its land.

In 1429, Charles was crowned the King of France and became Charles VII. Although the French had taken back their own throne, there was still conflict with the English, and Joan was sold to them as a hostage by the Burgundians. She was later charged with counts of witchcraft and heresy and burnt at the stake.

2. King Louis XIV (1638-1715)

King Louis XIV of France, also referred to as the Sun King, was crowned King of France at the age of just 4 years old following the death of his father.

Cardinal Mazarin, Louis’ chief minister had assisted in the running of the country while Louis was still a child, but after his death in 1661, Louis decided to rule alone as an absolute monarch, believing himself to be ruling directly on God’s behalf.

King Louis XIV is perhaps most famous for building the Palace of Versailles and making it a centre of French political and aristocratic life ¦ source: Visualhunt – papposilene

3. Voltaire (1694-1778)

Voltaire was an 18th-century French writer whose works are representative of the philosophic and cultural movement of the Enlightenment which took place in Europe in the 1700’s.

Voltaire is known for his criticism of Christianity throughout his satirical works as well as his support for the separation of church and state.

Throughout his life, Voltaire wrote all manner of literary works, the most notable being Candide (1759), which criticises the unfounded optimism present in religion and the problems around the idea of finding true happiness.

During his life, Voltaire spent life in prison for his attacks on religion and the government in La Henriade (1723). He also exiled himself to England and the town of Ferney (on the French-Swiss border which is now known as Ferney-Voltaire) to flee more jail time for his writings.

4. Marie Antoinette (1755-1793)

Marie Antoinette was born as an Austrian Archduchess in 1755. At age 14, she married the heir to the French throne, Louis-Auguste, who would become King Louis XVI and the last king of France, and Marie Antoinette would be the last queen.

At the beginning of her reign as queen of France, Marie Antoinette was highly regarded by citizens of France, however, when she gained a reputation as a symbol of the monarchy’s lavish spending, opinion of her and of the centuries-old institution of the monarchy plummeted.

Marie Antoinette is reported to have said “let them eat cake” on hearing that the population had no access to bread at the beginning of the French Revolution, though there is no evidence for this.

The decline in opinion of Marie Antoinette and her husband King Louis XVI was a contributing factor to the French Revolution.

5. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821)

Eventually rising to the position of Emperor of France, Napoleon Bonaparte started out as a member of the French military during the Revolution.

Napoleon is regarded as one of the West’s best military leaders and was the namesake of an array of wars in which he led France at the beginning of the 19th century ¦ source: Visualhunt

One of the most famous parts of Napoleon’s legacy is the Napoleonic Code. This was a new legal code for France which was drafted to replace the complex pre-revolution system. The Napoleonic code detailed everything from the rights of individuals and families to property and the management of colonies.

Though unpopular with some, Napoleon’s new code was adopted by several other countries, including those in South America as a template for their own civil codes.

6. Victor Hugo (1802-1885)

Victor Hugo was a French writer famous for his poems, novels and plays. He is most famous for his novels The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) and Les Misérables (1862), both of which enjoyed a second round of fame when they were transformed into a film and opera respectively.

Hugo’s works are regarded as belonging to the Romantic era, a period in which artists focussed on the poetic side of art and using nature as a springboard for creating meaningful works.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame tells the story of a man who is mistreated by the people of the town for the way he looks. This was the first semi-political work which would be followed by many more.

Set in 1845, Les Misérables follows the life of a man who was imprisoned for stealing a loaf of bread to feed his niece during a period of hardship. This also contains many messages about the flaws of post-revolutionary French society.

7. Marie Curie (1867-1934)

Originally from Poland, Marie Curie was the first woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize and the first to win the award more than once.

Curie dedicated her life to researching radioactive materials and is credited with the discovery of radium and polonium, as well as coining the term ‘radioactive’.

Curie’s efforts in the fields of physics and chemistry didn’t stop at research. She also worked alongside the government to implement the use of portable x-ray machines on wounded soldiers on the battlefields of the First World War.

Curie paid the ultimate price for her services to science. Her exposure to radioactive materials meant that she died at age 66 from aplastic anaemia caused by radiation.

8. Alfred Dreyfus (1859-1935)

Alfred Dreyfus was a French artillery officer during the First World War who was convicted of treason in 1894 after being suspected of informing German forces on French artillery.

After being stripped of his title as an army officer in public, Dreyfus exclaimed that he was innocent and worthy of serving in the French military.

While Dreyfus was serving his sentence of life imprisonment in French Guiana, new evidence came to light that Dreyfus was, in fact, innocent, however, the new findings were covered up until the story was given to the press.

Dreyfus’ Jewish faith and the suspicion of anti-Semitism in the French military brought the debate around the religious freedom of French citizens into the public eye. The popular opinion that Dreyfus was innocent meant that he was given a retrial, however, he was found guilty.

With Dreyfus locked up once more, there was another public outcry which led to his release and pardon.

Dreyfus was reinstated as an army officer and given significant promotions.

French history is fascinating! I learned all about it in my French classes London…

9. Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970)

Charles de Gaulle started out as a military leader in the Second World War and later became the President of France.

Throughout his military and political career, de Gaulle was at the centre of radical events and changes to the French government as well as the Algerian War of Independence in 1962.

As a military officer, de Gaulle was critical of the French government’s approach to the threat of German invasion and fled to London once Paris had been seized, where he formed the French government in exile as leader of Free France in 1940.

Charles de Gaulle has been recognised for his duties with an airport named in his honour ¦ source: Pixabay – 12019

Following the liberation of Paris in 1944, de Gaulle returned to Paris with a desire to form a new government, however, when this failed in 1953, he retired. But this was not the end of de Gaulle’s power.

He returned to govern France following the independence movement in Algeria (a French colony at the time) in 1958 and was president of France until 1969.

10. Jean Paul Sartre (1905-1980)

Jean-Paul Sartre was a philosopher and anticolonialist famous for his work on the theory of existentialism.

Sartre published a host of plays, essays and political works. The most famous of these include the play No Exit (1944), an existentialist play in which all of the characters are trapped in a room together with no escape.

Sartre famously refused the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1964, stating that a writer should not allow themselves to be turned into an institution.